DARKNESS

DARKNESS | Chapter 4

'The light at the end of the tunnel... might be a train.'- Unknown.

CHAPTER FOUR

"Well, well, well. Looks like we've found our rat."

Just when I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Ash stands before us, a semicircle of six men blocking any advances or hopes of slipping away we might have had. They're the only things blocking our path to freedom; the train barraging through, ruining our view of the light at the end of the tunnel.

The harshness of reality washes over me like a bucket of icy cold water; I'm not free.

The situation is worse.

We've been found. By Ash.

We failed.

"It was you who killed my men, wasn't it?" Ash directs his question solely at Brayden. "You're a part of the rebellion, are you not?"

Brayden sneers, not answering the question. The tension hangs heavy in the air as the two men stare each other down.

"Seize them," Ash hisses. His guards immediately step into action, grasping my upper arms roughly. Brayden and I are herded back down the hallways, down the stairs and into the isolation cell; my home for the past four days now, and probably four more. "Stupid children. You really thought you could escape? It's lucky I had just been coming back from business, isn't it? I'm warning you now: do not try anything or I will have to hurt you."

Brayden and I stay silent as the door of the cell is padlocked and Ash and his men file out of the room. The moment we're left alone, I can't help but lose it.

"You are such an idiot! I can't believe you betrayed me; handed me over to these creeps! Who does that?! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even be in this mess!"

"If it wasn't for me, you'd be dead! And for the last time, I didn't betray you!" He exclaims frustratedly.

"What else would you call it? You lied to me, you tricked me, you-"

"Saved you, protected you, tried to help you escape..."

I snort unattractively. "Nice try."

"I'm not one of them, Harper. I belong to a separate group called the Rebellion. We aim to protect people and prevent Ash from, basically, destroying everything. I was sent to act as one of Ash's minions in order to gain inside information and access. I was supposed to bring you to my people once Id found out where you were."

"So you not only betrayed me, but also your own people? What sort of monster are you?!"

"I would never betray my own people!" He snaps. "We ran into Blake in the woods and I knew we were outnumbered. There was no way we would've gotten out alive, had we attacked. So I went with it. My intention was to come back to the castle, free you and then we'd head back to my people. I guess that didn't work out too well though."

"You don't say."

"To think you're supposed to be the one to save us all," he mutters, "if thats the case, we've got no hope."

"I don't appreciate your continuously sour attitude," I comment, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor of the cell opposite him.

"And I don't appreciate your continuously annoying presence. Everything was just fine until you came along."

"Maybe you can understand how I feel about Ash, then. Because trust me, you don't hate me as much as I hate him."

<><><><><>